You may manage to cleverly invest, acquire a wonderful home and a lavish lifestyle and still not feel as if you have found your pot-of-gold. You may still feel wanting. We live in one of the richest countries in the world, but the overall level of happiness here is lower than in many poorer countries. So, the question is, if money cant buy happiness, what can?

Great wealth, personal success, and even fame is a lot of times a smoke screen and cover up what a person is really desiring. What they desire has substance and depth to it. Underneath it all, at their core they really desire attributes like joy, a sense of aliveness, peace of mind, happiness, connection, and fulfillment.

A Fulfilling Life is:

Special to You - What creates a fulfilling life for one person, isn't necessarily the right combination for you. The essential ingredients are related but how it is unveiled varies with each person. Embrace who you are and revel in the significance and value you and all you represent bring to this world!

A Medley - Fulfillment isn't just a by-product of those front page or news worthy experiences in life. The every day life occurrences contribute substantially to fulfillment. Here are some examples: being in the fastest checkout lane at the grocery store, finding no line at the post office, finding a great parking place even though the mall parking lot is packed with cars of holiday shoppers, and on and on.

All-Embracing - Fulfillment includes every area of our life. And whether we like it or not, each area of our life influences all the others, sometimes markedly and sometimes subtly. If you are not beaming from ear to ear about one or more areas of your life, just be open and receptive for your life to fine tune itself into that which is in your highest and best interest, and it will! With not a lot of planning (or concern) on your part your life will naturally evolve so your puzzle parts are in perfect alignment with each other. And the best part is; all areas will continue to adjust themselves, so your best possible life is available to you at any given time.

Ever-Evolving - What is fulfilling today, may not be fulfilling down the road. Fulfillment is not fixed; it is constantly adapting with our ever- changing life.

Can you stop the stars from coming out each night or the sun from shining brightly on a cloudless day? No, and so it is with the changes that naturally occur in our lives. When we release resistance, we have to change we are automatically carried along in the flow of life with grace and ease, allowing us to be available for all that life has to offer.

Fulfillment can never be gotten from anything we recall from the past, or something we look forward to in the future. Genuine fulfillment is experienced in the present moment, all of your senses are employed and you are filled with satisfaction and pleasure (the stuff that puts a smile on your face). And you know that; Ah hh, this is a great moment. It's knowing that whatever is going on right now is perfect.

Once you get familiar with these moments, you cannot go back to what was (nor do you want to). An awareness is formed; you get plugged in. You start to experience more and more of these moving and powerful moments until your entire life becomes a truly fulfilling experience.

Heres one for the road. When you treat yourself as you would someone you really love you'll experience a level of satisfaction and fulfillment that's otherwise unavailable. No one knows as much about you as you do. When you need a lift, rely on the world's expert on you. If you haven't yet appreciated yourself today, now would be a good time for it. If you have, appreciate yourself for having appreciated yourself. Ah hh, doesnt that feel good!

Mary Kay Buttery, 2006

A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks. - unknown